


golden boy, tell me what it’s like to conquer (broken boy, tell me what it’s like to burn)

by Forestgreengirl



Series: so wake me up when this is over (when im wiser and im older) [6]
Category: Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, CC-2224 Cody Is A Mess, CC-2224 | Cody Needs a Hug, CT-7567 | Rex Needs a Hug, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Mind Manipulation, Post-Order 66, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24695596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forestgreengirl/pseuds/Forestgreengirl
Summary: two brothers that loved each other, and betrayed each other.or(Cody and Rex meet on a battlefield years after the order.)
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & CC-3636 | Wolffe, CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex, CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, CT-7567 | Rex & CC-3636 | Wolffe
Series: so wake me up when this is over (when im wiser and im older) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678885
Comments: 9
Kudos: 101





	golden boy, tell me what it’s like to conquer (broken boy, tell me what it’s like to burn)

**Author's Note:**

> title inspired by “oh darling even Rome fell” by madzie-bane

CC-2224 knows he should recognise the clone in front of him, the man that wears shares his face, blue paint smeared across white armour, he knows he should recognise the blonde hair, and the determined anger; but it's like trying to remember a dream, he can feel something so close and yet so  _ far.  _

The blue clone stares at CC-2224 with something unreadable in his eyes, something that makes CC-2224 itch down beneath his skin, makes him hold his blaster tighter, it makes him want to  _ run.  _ It’s like when he catches sight of the red-lined white armour of the Emperor's troopers, or when he found cracked blue helmets buried on a planet with Vader. 

Around him, CC-2224 can feel his fellow troopers cry out at blaster bolts, at crashing ships, at lightsaber sounds  _ (Why is it so familiar? Why does he feel like his chest is about to cave in.)  _ He doesn't know why it all feels so familiar, like he's standing somewhere else. 

Kamino is horrible, the troopers are weak, they  _ can’t  _ be weak ( _ Weak troopers disappear one day, and they don't come back the same.)  _ He hates these new troopers, the ones with shiny blank armour, the ones with the same armour as him.    
  
_ (But the white feels wrong, and wasn't there supposed to be more? Why does he feel like something is missing?)  _ _  
_ _  
_ He stares at the blue clone through his helmet, trying to understand the screaming voice in his head, begging him to remember  _ something,  _ something he cant place, only that his hands ache where they’re clutching his blaster, he doesn't want to fight this traitor. He’s a good soldier, he needs to be a good soldier, but raising his blaster  _ hurts,  _ hurts down under his skin and into his bones.   
  
“...Cody?” The blue clone questions, blaster raised hesitantly as he stares down CC-2224.    
  
_ (Who is Cody? Why does the traitor act like he knows him?)  _ **[“The blue clone isn't real, CC-2224. Are you having dreams again?)**

**“** _ Traitor.”  _ The blue clone flinches back, an action both so familiar and so  _ wrong  _ to see. CC-2224 doesn’t understand what he can’t remember. 

_ (The medics told him it was a head injury from when he was a child, the one time he questioned the holes in his memories. The concerned, puzzled expression the medic gave him confused CC-2224. It’ll be days before he remembers the gold paint marks on the medics armour.)  _ _  
_ _  
_ “Cody  _ please.  _ This isn’t you.”    
  
“Keep your mouth shut. You’re a traitor to the empire.”    
  
“ _ Vod, please.  _ You need to remember.” The blue clone looks desperate, CC-2224 doesn't understand why. They’re not friends, the blue clone is a traitor, and CC-2224 is a good soldier to his core.    
  
“You’re a traitor to the empire. Surrender and you will be shown mercy. 

_ (“Of course I won’t let them decommission you, Rex’ika. I’ll never let them hurt you.”)  _

“I’m not the traitor,  _ ori’vod.  _ This isn’t you.”    
  
CC-2224 does not recognise the words that the blue clone is saying, doesn’t recognise the language, but the way it sounds is so  _ familiar,  _ he feels like something is broken somewhere inside him, the way the words feel in his mouth is so strange, and yet so  _ right.  _

_ “ _ You are a traitor, you are to be terminated.”    
  
“ _ Kote please!”  _

_ (“My name is Kote, and I’m a person!”)  _

CC-2224 watches as someone else turns at the volume of the blue clones voice, eyes narrowing in CC-2224’s direction. Grey chipped paint catches his eye, the scar going through the man's eye is so  _ familiar.  _ It feels like he should know him, feels it like he knows he should know the blue painted, sad-eyed clone. He knows it like how being around Vader makes his skin crawl, being around CC-1010 makes something ugly inside him bloom. 

“ _ Rebel scu-”  _ CC-2224 is cut off by the blue clone slamming a shaking fist into CC-2224’s brittle,  _ blank  _ armour. Blaster tucked against his hip. CC-2224  _ (Please you have a name, you have a name and you are a person.)  _ tries to grab his own blaster, he needs to follow his orders, he needs to execute the traitors. 

_ (A traitor wearing gold and wide eyes, his blood staining CC-2- Cody’s hands. He comes back from that mission with Vader alive, but you don’t come back from killing a brother.)  _ _  
_ _  
_ The blue clone sends them both sprawling into the white floors of Kamino, where CC-2224 had been stationed; The emperor was getting antsy, eyes constantly watching CC-2224 for something he couldn't understand, it wasn't what he stares at CC-1010 with, that sick amusement that dances through the emperor's eyes when he catches sight of bloody bruises. He looks at CC-2224 with  _ caution,  _ like the trooper is something to be feared. 

_ (He used to be powerful, one of the highest ranking troopers, ready to tear the droids apart with clenched hands and rage. He was not named Kote for nothin.)  _

CC-2224 feels his head slam into the white flooring below them, his vision whiting out for the briefest of moments, leaving him disoriented and shaky. He kicks out with his feet, managing to hit the blue clones knees, kicking him backwards enough for CC-2224 to scramble back to his feet, one hand grabbing his blaster and lifting it. 

“ _ Cody!  _ It’s Rex, I’m your brother, not a traitor. The empire isn't  _ right.” _

_ “ _ The empire wiped out the traitors, they saved us.”    
  
The blue clone, the traitor,..Rex  _ (The name tastes familiar on his lips, something he’s said a thousand times before)  _ looks at CC-2224 with horror, something fractured in his eyes, it makes CC-2224 want to look away, to avert his eyes from the blatant display of emotion. 

“The Jedi weren’t the traitors,  _ vod,  _ we were.” 

CC-2224 hears the buzz of a lightsaber near him, the sound familiar enough that it  _ hurts.  _ He feels the phantom weight of a lightsaber in his hands, a traitor's weapon, the humming in his mind when he held it, how it seemed to wrap him in a comfort he can’t remember feeling since. 

But he killed his  **[traitor],** he did his duty, he followed his orders, he was a  _ good  _ soldier. It doesn't make sense what the cloned traitor is saying, they were not  _ traitors,  _ they were only doing their duty.  **[“Don’t question my orders again, CC-2224. You won’t like the consequences.”]**

_ (“Blast him!”  _ _  
_ _  
_ _ The flash of water, the echoing silence, the way gold warped under heat, and Cody screamed at what they did, while Kote stayed silent, CC-2224 raises his blaster, again, and again, and again, and inside of him, something fractures. _

_ “CC-2224. I want you to find the traitors to the empire, execute by any means necessary.” _ _  
_ _  
_ _ “Yes, my Lord.”) _ _  
_ _  
_ CC-2224 levels his blaster at the blue clone, blank eyed and  _ broken.  _ He levels his blaster, and he doesn't understand why it's so hard to breath. 

CC-2224 levels his blaster, but he hears the sound of a blaster from behind him, CC-2224 turns out in time to see the grey-coloured clone with the dead eyes holding a blaster, hands shaking and eyes watering, but he's firm in his choice. 

Cody feels the burning of the blaster wound close to his heart, he doesn't know why he feels so much  _ relief.  _

“Wolffe...What have you done.”    
  
Inside his head,  _ Kote  _ finally exhales. 

**Author's Note:**

> ,,,wahoo? I’m sorry- 
> 
> come chat on tumblr! (@forestgreengirl)


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